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Sau-Ke-Nuk 




THE STORY 

OF 

BLACK 
HAWK'S 
TOWER 



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BY 



JULIA MILLS DUNN 



Illustrated by 

ALICE C. WALKER 



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The Story of Black Hawk's Tower 


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By Julia Mills Dunn 


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Member of The Illinois State Historical Society 


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Daughters of the American Revolution of Illinois 


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Illustrated by Alice C. Walker 


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MOLINE, IT.LINOIS: 


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DESAULNIERS & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS 


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1905 


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LIBRARY M JONGHESS 
Two Copies rit^eivco 

JUN 19 iy05 

COPY 6. 



Copyright, 1905. 

By Julia Mills Dunn, 

Moline, 111. 



SAU-KE-NUK. 



Thk Story of Black Hawk's 
Tower. 




LITTLE more than seventy years 
ago these grounds were owned 
and occupied by the Sauk, or 
Sac Indians, whose chief was 
known as Ma - ka - tai - me - she- 
kia-kiak, or Black Hawk. Among the strong 
characters that have become historic in the 
annals of the Northwest that of this great 
chief stands pre-eminent. All reliable state- 
ments of those who were personally acquainted 
with him and his contemporaries agree that 
he was a man of great mind, wonderful energy 
and unsurpassed courage. 

The united possessions of the Sauk and Fox 
Indians included the whole of the state of Iowa, 
and on this side of the Mississippi River the 
3 





lands lying along the Illinois River from its 
mouth as far as Peoria, then north to the 
Wisconsin River about seventy or eighty miles 
from its mouth, down the Wisconsin to the 
Mississippi, and thence to the Illinois. 

They had several villages in Rock Island 
county, but the largest was known as Sauke- 
nuk, or the city of the Sauks. It stood a 
short distance from Black Hawk's Tower 
toward the west and about three miles and a 
half from where Rock River, known to the 
Indians as Sinissippi, empties into the great 
Father of Waters. 

The date of the settlement at Saukenuk 
has never been definitely ascertained. Black 
Hawk himself said that his people had occu- 
pied these lands more than one hundred years 
when they were dispossessed by the whites 
in 1832. 

The location of Saukenuk was an ideal one. 

The Sinissippi, rich in story and tradition, here 

flow^s through a valley as fertile as that of the 

world-famed Nile. As one looks over the 

4 




farms that now stretch away in the distance, 
a more beautiful scene cannot be found in the 
state. The prairie uplands clothed with fields 
of waving grain in various shades of green, 
the clumps of stately elms that are dotted 
along the banks of the willow- fringed river 
that glitters through the trees in mirror-like 
brightness, and the spirit of peace that seems 
to brood over the valley, make a scene whose 
perfect beauty can never be forgotten. A 
short distance from the site of ancient Sau- 
kenuk the shore of the Sinissippi rises into a 
bold promontory more than two hundred feet 
high, and this is called Black Hawk's Watch 
Tower. Those who regard these people as 
little better than animals or beasts of prey, 
say that from this lofty eminence that over- 
looked the village Black Hawk used to sit and 
watch for his foes to anticipate their attack 
and destroy them. But those 
who knew him best said that he ^ ^^ 
was a lover of natural scenery, 
and that it is more probable that 

5 - ^^£ 



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became here for peaceful purposes. He him- 
self in his autobiography says : ' ' The Tower 
was a favorite resort, and I often went there 
alone where I could sit and smoke my pipe and 
look with pleasure and wonder at the grand 
scenes before me. ' ' 

Saukenuk has been called a village, but 
perphaps a better idea would be conveyed by 
the word town, for it once numbered by 
actual count eleven thousand active, industri- 
ous, energetic, intelligent people. Like the 
towns built by white men, it was laid out into 
lots, blocks, streets and alleys. It had two 
public squares, and like the old villages and 
cities we see everywhere in Europe today, it 
was w^alled for protection, not with stone, but 
fortified with brush palisades with gates for 
entrances. 

Thus it will be seen that Saukenuk was 
not a mere aggregation of huts and wigwams 
but a town of permanent dwellings. 

They were built to face the street, or public 
square, at a uniform distance from the street 
6 



and equal distances apart. They were of poles 
sunk into the ground, the tops bent over and 
lashed together forming a roof, which was 
then covered with strips of elm bark, both top 
and sides. These made their summer dwell- 
ings, but in winter they occupied wigwams, 
or tepees, as the latter were small and could 
be better heated. Where the two public 
squares intersected stood their council house, 
which was of immense size without any par- 
tition. The council house was used by the 
chiefs and men in authority for the secret con- 
sideration and discussion of all matters per- 
taining to the tribe. When not in use for this 
purpose it was used as a gymnasium and danc- 
cing hall by the young people. 
But it was on the public 
square that all the people met 
on all great occasions, and it 
was here that their mass meet- 
ings were held. The Sauks 
were governed by two sets 
of men, peace chiefs and war 
7 





chiefs, corresponding to our civil and mili- 
tary departments. The duties of the peace 
chiefs were to settle all disputes between 
their own and other tribes and between 
the whites and themselves. The war chiefs 
never interfered in the affairs of the village 
and the decisions of the peace chiefs were never 
questioned. 

The agricultural labor of the community 
was left to the old men, women and boys. 
Because of a superstition that their crops 
would yield better if planted by women, 
the corn planting w^as done chiefly by the 
women of the tribe. They cultivated corn of 
several varieties, squashes, beans and melons. 

Like the fashionable folk of today the people 
of Saukenuk considered it a necessity to go 
away from home for a part of the year, and 
about the middle of September a general exo- 
dus took place for their western hunting 
grounds, from which they did not return until 
corn-planting time, about the middle of April, 
or * ' when the oak leaves were the size of a 
8 




mouse's ear." They all left on the same day, 
almost at the same hour. In order to do this 
a man with a strong voice was appointed to go 
through the village a few days before, proclaim- 
ing the day and hour of departure. In starting 
they went down the Mississippi, taking all their 
canoes, about two hundred, and from five hun- 
dred to seven hundred horses. It was arranged 
that they should take hunting grounds that 
would not interfere with the Fox tribe, who 
were their friends and neighbors and with 
whom they had formed an alliance for defensive 
purposes. The Sauks took middle and southern 
Iowa and the Foxes went to the northern part 
of the same state. After the fall hunt they 
went into winter quarters at some appointed 
rendezvous which they frequently fortified 
as a protection against the warlike Sioux 
with whom they were at war, and here they 
stayed until after the spring sugar making, 
when they returned to Saukenuk. The 
appointed leader of the return trip would per- 
mit no straggling. They were told in the 
9 




morning where they would camp at night. 
They kept their horses and canoes as close 
together as possible and would arrive in camp 
at nearly the same hour after a day's march. 
With all the impedimenta their progress was 
necessarily slow, and they often did not march 
more than ten miles a day. They brought 
home maple sugar and dried meat, having 
disposed of the hides and furs they had acquired 
to some Indian trader before starting home. 

Before leaving Saukenuk in the fall they 
buried their vegetables, squashes, beans and 
dried corn, and their first task on return- 
ing home was to inspect the places where their 
stores had been hidden to get the vegetable 
food of which they had been deprived for so 
many months. They prepared the corn by 
boiling it while green, cutting it from the cob 
and then drying it in the sun. It made a 
palatable dish of which they were very fond. 
To hide these stores where they could not be 
found they selected a dry spot where there was 
bluegrass sod. Then they cut away a circular 
10 



piece of sod the size of a man's body. This was 
carefully laid aside and a hole dug, enlarging it 
as they went down to a depth of five or six feet. 
It was made large enough to hold the beans, 
squashes, dried corn, and sometimes crab- 
apples, sufficient for one family. The hole 
was lined on the inside with strips of bark, and 
in sacks made from woven flags and grasses, 
or skins they had tanned, they put the vege- 
table provisions for their next summer's use. 
The sacks were then covered with layers of 
bark, the surplus dirt removed so as to destroy 
all traces of digging, and the sod carefully 
replaced. Well they knew that as soon as they 
were gone the Winnebagoes or some other tribe 
would be there searching for these hidden del- 
icacies. To make the hiding places more dif- 
ficult to find they would sometimes dig these 
holes in the center of the wigwam , where they 
made their fire, and after the hole was filled 
they would build a fresh fire over the spot to 
hide all traces of digging. But the Winneba- 
goes and other thieving tribes would thrust 
11 




their sharp mnskrat spears into the ground, 
and sometimes discover them however cun- 
ningly concealed. When a family had been 
robbed in this way during their absence some 
of the 3^oung men of Saukenuk would go around 
the village and collect a small portion from 
each family to make up the loss. 

The annual buifalo hunt took place in sum- 
mer, the hunters leaving home in July. This 
took them to the far w^estern country w^here it 
was probable they would meet the fierce and 
warlike Sioux, who were their bitter enemies. 
Elaborate preparations were necessary for an 
event of so much importance, and each man 
carried a gun, a bow and a large bundle of 
arrows. They often w^aged fierce battles with 
the cruel Sioux, and besides the dried meat 
and tallow they brought home, they also 
brought the scalps they had taken from their 
enemies. If any of their number had fallen in 
battle, there was no rejoicing out of deference 
to the feelings of the bereaved relatives, but 
the}^ blacked their faces instead of wearing 
12 




black clothes, and mourned in silence for a 
specified time. If they had been victorious, 
and suffered no loss of life, there was great 
rejoicing and dancing that lasted for days. 

There was no intoxicating liquor used 
in Saukenuk. Black Hawk would not allow it 
and forbade the Indian agents to sell it to his 
people. When this request was disregarded, 
and some of his young men had been per- 
suaded to drink, he went to the agency, rolled 
the whisky barrels out of doors and broke in 
the barrel heads with a tomahawk. The people 
of Saukenuk were quite ceremonious and did 
not like to have their code of etiquette infringed 
upon. When a white man was the guest of 
an Indian, no offence was taken if he declined 
to partake of any dish he did not like, but 
once helped it was a breach of etiquette to 
leave anything. He could, however, hire some 
Indian to eat it for him . This was considered 
good form, and furnished an easy w^ay out of 
many a difficulty. The people of Saukenuk 
were honest. After trading posts were estab- 
13 





lished they were often induced to buy more 
than they could afford, but the agents 
said that though the debts were many they 
never lost a dollar from Black Hawk's patron- 
age, nor from any of his people. 

They had many poetic and beautiful legends 
that they used to tell around their wigwam fires 
when the severity of the weather precluded out- 
door sports. One of these w^as of a young Sioux 
brave, who, lost on the prairie in a snowstorm, 
found himself at Saukenuk and asked hospi- 
tality. Although he was their enemy, he was 
safe as a guest, and was warmed and fed in the 
wigwam of a brave who had a daughter called 
Dark Eyes . The young couple fell deeply in love 
and it was arranged that when he returned the 
following summer she would go as his bride to 
the far off western country and live in his lodge 
among his kindred. When summer came, and 
the corn was just beginning to show its tassels 
in the following June, the young Sauk maiden 
at work with her mother in the corn field 
heard the signal — the whistle of an oriole — 
14 



and returned to her home to get her blanket 
before joining her lover, who was waiting. But 
alas, her two brothers had also heard the sig- 
nal, witnessed the meeting of the two, and 
pursued the fleet-footed Dark Eyes and^ her 
Sioux lover. The fleeing lovers, hard pressed, 
took refuge in a cave under Black Hawk's 
Tower. A furious rain storm was coming up, 
a bolt of lightning rent the cliff and it fell, 
crushing the faithful lovers under the ruins. 
Since then, on summer nights the whistle of 
an oriole can sometimes be heard, and Dark 
Eyes and her Jover come forth and wander 
about the familiar places. 

Another legend is that a wandering French 
violinist once came to Saukenuk and was enter- 
taining the people who had gathered on the 
Tower with the music of his violin — a recital 
we should call it in these daj^s. His back was 
toward the cliff as he faced his audience, and 
becoming enthusiastic over his own music he 
stepped backward over the edge, and was 
dashed to death below. With the annual recur- 
15 






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rence of the time of the tragedy, the people of 
Saiikenuk said that the soft strains of a violin 
could be heard floating on the summer air. 

Two or three miles from Saukenuk, just 
above the point where the Mississippi joins the 
Father of Waters, is an island in the Missis- 
sippi nearly three miles long, and three-quar- 
ters of a mile wide, comprising about one thou- 
sand acres. This was a favorite pleasure resort 
for the young people of Saukenuk, where they 
went to gather strawberries, blackberries and 
nuts that grew here plentifully in the season. 
It was a favorite fishing resort also, and here 
they loved to gather and indulge in their 
simple amusements, dashing through the rapids 
in their light canoes and enjoying other pas- 
times. One spot on this island was sacred 
ground, and they never approached it save 
with a hushed tread and subdued voices. This 
was at the lower end of the island, where the 
rock which forms the bed of the island, and 
from which it receives its name, rises in an 
almost perpendicular wall many feet in height. 
16 



Directly under it is a cave where they believed 
a good spirit lived, the guardian of their tribe. 
Like the seers of modern times, many of them 
had seen spirits, and this one was in the form 
of a swan, only ten times larger, and pure 
white, as orthodox spirits are supposed to be. 
The simple, idyllic life of these people, as 
told in Black Hawk's biography, dictated by 
himself, reads like a romance. "We always 
had plenty," he says; "our children never 
cried with hunger nor were our people ever in 
want. We had about eight hundred acres in 
cultivation, including what we had on the 
islands in Rock River just opposite the Tower. 
The land about our village, uncultivated, was 
covered with blue grass, which made excellent 
pasture for our horses. Several fine springs 
furnished us with water, the Sinissippi yielded 
an abundance of fish, and the land being good, 
never failed to produce good crops of corn, 
beans, pumpkins and squashes. Here our vil- 
lage had stood for more than a hundred years, 
during which time we had been the undis- 
puted possessors of this beautiful region." 




The people had numerous feasts and cere- 
monious dances in which both men and women 
participated. After the corn was all planted 
in the spring there was a great feast and a 
dance called the crane dance, which was the 
great social event of the year. The Sauk 
maidens, dressed in their costumes of fine 
tanned leather, as white and soft as some 
woven fabric, trimmed with ermine and dec- 
orated with elaborate colored embroidery of 
porcupine quills, joined in the dance, this 
being one in which women were allowed to 
participate. The time of the crane dance was 
the time when all the young men of the vil- 
lage chose their wives. One of their modes 
of courtship was for a young man to take his 
flute and sit before the lodge in which the 
young woman lived whom he wanted for a 
wife, and begin playing on his flute. One 
after another the young women who lived in 
the lodge would come out and the player 
would change the tune until the right one 
appeared, when he would continue the tune 
18 




without change. That night he would go to 
the lodge after the family had retired and pre- 
sent himself at the bedside of the young 
woman, holding a lighted torch to his face 
that she might know him. If she took no 
notice of him he would go away, but if she 
blew out the light it was a sign that his suit 
was accepted and he was thereafter considered 
one of the family. 

After the crane dance, which sometimes 
lasted for several days, they danced their 
national dance, which was for men exclu- 
sively. The large square in the village was 
swept and prepared for the purpose, and the 
warriors, one at a time, stepping to the sound 
of the music, came into the center of the cir- 
cle of listeners and told of some exploit of war 
or adventure in which he had distinguished 
himself. 

The summer time was the happy season of 

they ear, and they made feasts and indulged in 

games until the corn was ripe and ready to pick. 

Every day in some lodge in the village was held 

19 




a feast to the Great Spirit, for the Sauks were 
a religious people. Black Hawk once said, 

We thank the Great Spirit daily for all the 
benefits he has conferred upon us. For my- 
self, I never take a drink of water froma spring 
without thanking Him for His goodness." 

When Black Hawk's father died, in accord- 
ance with the custom of the tribe he built 
himself a cabin remote from the village and 
with his wife and children retired to this 
quiet spot and spent five years in fasting and 
prayer to the Great Spirit, eating only a few 
grains of parched corn daily at sunset. Once 
on the return march of the tribe from their 
annual hunt in Iowa, Black Hawk's daughter 
died and was buried near the place where the 
city of Keokuk now stands. She was a great 
favorite with her father, and as long as he 
lived Black Hawk went alone every year on 
the anniversary of her death to the place where 
she was buried, and, blacking his face and 
shrouding it with his blanket, spent the entire 
day by the grave in fasting and prayer. 
20 



0» 




When the corn was ripe another great 
ceremony took place, with feasting and 
returning thanks to the Great Spirit for His 
gift of corn. Then came the great ball play 
in which a thousand players were engaged, 
four or five hundred playing on a side. They, 
like the white people, played for forfeits or 
prizes, and guns, blankets and horses were 
taken by the victors. After the ball play, 
which often lasted for days, came the horse 
races where, as with us, betting was freely 
indulged in, and horses, blankets and guns 
again changed hands, but with the utmost 
good feeling and friendly rivalr^^ They 
played too, an indoor game called "Plum 
Stone," or Game of the Bowl, in which the 
women were very skillful, as our modern 
society dames are in the various games of 
cards. Thirteen pieces, nine of them carved 
from bone, were tossed about in a bowl and 
were counted according to the positions they 
assumed when they fell. There were two 
figures of sea serpents, two ininewug, or 
21 




wedge-men, one war club, one fish, three 
ducks — all of bone, polished white on one 
side, and painted red on the other. There 
were also four pieces of brass — round discs 
black on one side and polished on the other. 
The bowl, held in both hands, was tossed or 
shaken, and when all the pieces turned red 
side up and one of the ininewugs, or wedge- 
men, stood upright on the bright side of one 
of the brass discs, it counted one hundred and 
fifty-eight — the highest count in the game. 

Close to the foot of the promontory, or 
Tower, was the place where they buried their 
dead — Chippianock — the Silent City. Here 
they came to visit their dead, and to the Sau- 
kenuk people the place was only a little less 
dear than the village which lay beyond, and 
to which they were bound by the sacred ties 
of family and friends, their home. 

In the fall a small number of chosen warriors 

went to Maiden, near Detroit to receive their 

annual allowance from the British military 

authorities stationed there. The route they 

22 




RD 14.8 



took was plainly visible a few years ago and 
was known as the "old Sauk trail." Each 
warrior wore his best, as befitted such an im- 
portant occasion, and the procession must have 
been a picturesque one, as each dusky brave 
slipped silently into line and started on the long 
march, his plumed headdress nodding in the 
breeze, his garments gay with the colored em- 
broidery of quills and beads wrought by the 
deft hands of some dark-eyed sweetheart. 

The story of the destruction of Saukenuk 
by the white race is too long aiid involved to 
be told here. When our government — unjustly, 
as many believe — gave the order for Black 
hawk and his people to give up their village 
and lands to the white settlers the order was 
met with stubborn resistance, and General 
Gaines was sent from St. Louis with a force 
of soldiery to compel them to obedience. The 
village was burned to the ground and the 
Sauks driven beyond the Mississippi, the con- 
flict that ensued being known in history as 
the Black Hawk War. Saukenuk is no more. 
23 





On the spot wheer the great chieftain of a 
mighty nation once stood to gaze on his 
vast possessions, stands Black Hawk Inn. 
Through the site of ancient Saukenuk the 
trolley cars of the Tri-City Railway glide 
along on their way to Milan on tracks of shin- 
ing steel . The cemetery that lay between the 
village and the Tower, that had held for 
over a century the sacred ashes of unnumbered 
dead, has been desecrated by the spade and 
plow of the white man. On the island w^here 
the young people used to wander, the massive 
stone buildings of the Rock Island Arsenal 
stand today. Over the cave where the good 
spirit lived the Daughters of the American 
Revolution have erected a monument to mark 
the site of old Fort Armstrong. 

But even the destroying hand of improve- 
ment has failed to mar its beauty, and it still 
holds the charm that made it so dear to Black 
Hawk and the people of ancient Saukenuk. 



24 



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